Step 1: Learn mouse taxidermy

First, check out my Mouse Taxidermy Instructable. It covers all of the basic skills and tools you'll need to prepare your rat for its LED Throwiedom. Mice are smaller and easier to work with than rats, so I'd definitely recommend trying this with a mouse first.

There's no reason you can't make a Mouse LED Throwie; I just happened to have both a frozen rat and red LEDs of the proper size for rat eyes. I'll make some mouse LED throwies next, but it's really all the same thing. I'll put up pictures when I make the mice.

The rodents below are quick-thawing in lukewarm water; this is suboptimal and can be avoided through proper planning.

An aside:If you're ethically opposed to the concept of creative and/or decorative taxidermy (and have chosen to look anyway) I have two questions for you: do you wear leather, and do you eat meat? If you answered yes to either, can you/would you kill and prepare the animals necessary to procure this meat and leather? Willfully ignoring the source of your food and clothing hypocritically outsources the ethical questions and is ultimately disrespectful to the animals involved. If you're an ethical vegan and eschew leather, I respect your opinion and your desire to avoid viewing discomfiting images. Thus I carefully label the Intro page of these Instructables, hide the more graphic pictures on the later pages, and promise not to send you any taxidermy for Christmas.Now back to your regularly scheduled Instructable.

hey there! i just did my first ever taxidermy, thanks to your MOUSE TAXIDERMY instructable! thanks so much for that! :-) my rat looks sort of like a ferret, as i didnt quite manage to get the "hunchback"... oh well... anyway, my suggestion is to sink the LEDs deeper into the "skull", so they look like real rat's eyes and dont stick out all that much... except for the weird color. ;-) a few questions though... my rat smells somewhat. not worse than the smell when it was fresh, and it doesnt smell rotten... but it still has a scent now. my rat was a roadkill, and thus, very bruised (see pictures)... could it rot away? yes, i used plenlty of borax and cornmeal, as you suggested in your tutorial. also, how do i best get a "hunchback", ie "natural" pose for a sitting rat, next time? thanks so much and keep up the great work!

I had a bad experience soldering to small coin cells once. You may get away with it on larger cells like these, but be very careful. When they go, consider that they will be spraying hot solder as well as battery electrolyte and case pieces around. Glasses or a face shield are very important if you like your eyes.

Wow people your stupid. Yes they are animals but taxidermy would be such a waist without animals. Lol. I don't care for this use but it is creative at the least. And as for you people saying what he did was illegal on how he got them you should know what your talking about. He probably bought them from a pet store. They sell dead frozen rats and mice as snake food. So get off your high horse and ask how before you start squealing for the cops

I AM vegetarian and i look anyway. This is a really, really great ible. I just posted it on FB, it's so kewl! (but the question is not "do you wear leather" - there's even a kinda development in between those vegan/vegetarian hardcores to avoid leather. They obviously choose plastic instead, not noticing that plastic does not rot, therefore plastic can even been found in fish. Anyways: what you do and don't do depends on your will, meanwhile DIY depends on Do-What-You-Will, the only way to forbid the use of specific materials is to create a totalitarian conformity of law, even concerning mind - and i really wonder which vegan stands up for the New World Order)

This has to be the boldest Instructable I have ever seen! I especially like the picture of the rat/throwie that is connected to the car! Not only am I going to make one for a hood ornament but I am giving them out as Christmas gifts (if only I can find some small antlers…). Thanks for sharing this, it is great!

This is so wrong, how could you do this. you are sick...AND I LOVE IT!!! This instructable is so delightfully demented, I can't even begin to describe how giddy I am. My college professors are getting their cars Rat throwied for sure.

I actually Laughed Out Loud when I saw the picture of the mouse, just the look of it with those LED's sticking out of its head. No offence, of course, I think it's a great idea, I think I'll make one of these myself...!

Oh god people, get off your high horse already. This is not different than stuffed heads or stuffed animals at the museum. So he put LED's in its eyes, so what? if not led they put glass eyes in stuffed animals same difference. To the "Insanity and Sickness" poster: Get over yourself already.

All that off my chest, i have to say that while i wouldnt do it myself since i think skinning the animal is gross, if i ever got this as a present or found one i would think it was hilarious!